HD Ratings: Cocaine Fuels TVNZ 1

The launch of Gordon Ramsay on Cocaine and the return of 20/20 helped TVNZ 1 to largely win Tuesday night amid fierce competition from TVNZ 2 and Three.

It posted a 24.3% share of the key 25-54 demographic compared to 2’s 21.5% and Three’s 21.7%.

Ramsay’s 3.4 rating didn’t win the hour but it improved on lead-in The Celebrity Chase(2.9%).

And its viewership built from 2.7% to 3.8% once Three’s Married at First Sight (6.7%) gave way to Special Victims Unit (3.1%), which also lost to TVNZ 2’s Instant Hotel (3.6%).

Ramsay was also popular in the 18-49 demo (3.0%) and among household shoppers with kids (4.7%).

Lead-out 20/20 was competitive, averaging 2.6% of 25-54 and 2.5% of 18-49, while at 7.00 Seven Sharp and The Project again were neck-and-neck: the former won in the 25-54 and 18-49 demos but the latter was tops with 18-39 and HHS/k.

Both were dwarfed by Shortland Street, which averaged 8.9% – 13.2% of the core commercial demos — but not even this was enough for lead-out My Kitchen Rules Australia to beat MAFS, which lost only in the 18-39 market.

TVNZ 2 had the biggest share of this audience for the night (25.1%) but was pipped for the 18-49 vote by TVNZ 1 (23.4%), which also edged out Three for the HHS/k demo (25.2%).